Let's just put this out there now: room escapes can seem a little... samey after a while. Although the classic room escape is still logical fun, there's even more fun to be had when things are a little quirky, such as in games like the Dr. Ichie series, where you wake up in a room with a note from the apologetic doctor (why in the world does he keep locking you up?) and then proceed to escape. Whimsy makes everything better. This is why this week's gem is a whimsical entry from Tesshi-e in Escape from the Tatami Room.

The story is told with a note (if you find it) from the staff of the Tesshi-e restaurant. They have locked you in, and will only serve you lunch if you reason your way out. Cool! Why can't I find restaurants like that around here? Oh right, lawsuits. At any rate, your task is then to wander around the space and try to figure out how to unlock the door. Not to escape, mind you, but to get that fabulous promised lunch.

Navigation is the classic bars at the sides, bottom, and occasionally top of the screen. An about item button allows you to examine your inventory items. And as this is classic Tesshi-e, you definitely need to examine the items, manipulate them, and even combine them to reach the amusing conclusion of this particular escape. There is no changing cursor to point out the hot spots, but as the space is sparsely filled, there will not be a lot of pixel hunting involved.

Analysis: Tesshi-e's escapes are, for the most part, a little on the cold, logical side, so it's nice to see this little flight of whimsy. The puzzles are logical and the construction is flat out amusing, making this a very light-hearted, fun escape. Well, not an escape, per se, unless you're talking about an escape from hunger.

Beautifully rendered in 3D, this is a very traditional Japanese space, very reminiscent of a traditional Ryokan; sparse, serene, calm, and almost ethereal. The music is, as usual, something you've probably heard before, so there's always the handy mute button. As always with Tesshi-e, there's more than one escape scenario. Two, in fact; the regular and the obligatory "happy coin" escape. Although the game is in Japanese, you don't need to be able to read it to play. In fact, at key points, English phrases crop up to point the gamer in the right direction.

Escape from the Tatami Room is not the toughest escape out there, but one that hangs together nicely with a mix of use of found objects, construction, and pure logic. Amusing casual gameplay that doesn't take a lot of time but leaves you feeling very satisfied, even if you don't really get to eat that excellent spread that is the final reward. Feeling peckish? Then get moving! Just save me some of that sushi, it looks good enough to eat.

take the note from the fire pit
read it
look at the blue ox with 2 drawers
open the top drawer
note the 3 symbols

fish, grid, plant

find them in the room

fish:

its hanging over the firepit

7

Grid:

its the white door

the path indicated on it forms a letter

2

plant:

its in the alcove

4

These should combine to form a 3 digit combination

724

enter it in the box
open the drawer
take the heart key
use the heart key on the white door
go through the door
look to the left
there is a stool on the freezer
take the stool
open the freeze
take the ice block
go outside
take leaves from the tree
look to the left
take wood from the pile
go inside
look at the alcove
take the die
look at the right part of the scroll
open it
take the screwdriver.
look at the plaque next to the door
unscrew it
take the club key
put the stool down in front of the blue doors
look at the top door
open it
take the object inside
there is a screw in the lower left of the doorway
unscrew it
take the stool
open the blue door
take the stick at the bottom of the door
look at the bottom box
unlock it with the club key
take the ladle
open the left door
take the pot
look above the fish
use the stick on the die
look at the stool
look under it
take the die
open the blue closet again
look at the top box
note the dice indents
you need to put the dice in so that the number shown is facing inwards
turn the dice to the appropriate direction in your inventory

5 3 2

open the box
take the saw
saw the sticks in half
go to the fire pit
put the sticks in the fire pit
look under the top right pillow
take the matches
look at the note
roll it into a cylinder
use the matches on it
light he fire with the torch
look at the pot
put the ice in the pot
step back
look back at the pot
take the marble out with the ladel
fill the object from the top cupboard with water
put the object in the freezer
go to the left flower in the alcove
take the red marble
take the object out of the freezer
remove the ice from it
put the leaves on the ice
put the red marbles on the ice
put the ice rabbit in front of the rabbit sign in the alcove
take the heart key
unlock the front door with the heart key
congratulations

make a rabbit idol out of ice? For real? That stretches even escape game logic

The thing that bugs me most about Tesshi-e's games is how precise you have to be with manipulating objects. For example

After I got the "You need a bigger fire" message when I tried to light the wood, I tried to light up the rolled-up memo. I didn't click *exactly* on the top of the memo though, so nothing happened. I wasted a good amount of time looking for some other source of kindling before I broke down and looked at the walkthrough and realized, yup, I had the right idea all along.

I don't know why people say this stuff is illogical. Have you not played any of the classic point-and-click adventure games?

I remember in Grim Fandango I had to resort to a walkthrough early on because I couldn't figure out what to do. Something about getting some dead worm balloons from a balloon vendor at a street festival, then bring them back and fill them with packing material, then stuff them down some tubes.

I'm the opposite of you. The first place I looked for the coin was the platform. I clicked every spot on it except for the right one. Then I wandered around looking for another puzzle, and finding none finally resorted to the walkthrough. Which of course told me that the coin was in the platform. :p

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